Fraudster finds Winnipeg woman’s driver’s licence, drains bank account

A Winnipeg woman who had her identity stolen is warning others after a fraudster drained her bank account. As Mark Neufeld reports, she was forced to spent multiple days driving to banks just to prove it wasn’t her.

By Mark Neufeld

WINNIPEG (CityNews) ─ A Winnipeg woman who became the victim of identity theft had her bank account drained, despite implementing anti-theft measures with her bank.

The nightmare began for Claire Saunders when she threw out her 2015 driver’s licence. A woman found it and took it to the Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) Autopac office, where she proceeded to steal Saunders’ identity.

“So she ended up with two pieces of my ID,” said Saunders. “The temporary paper copy and the expired photo copy from 2015, and those together are valid ID.

“She applied for multiple vehicle loans, multiple credit cards, bank accounts.”

Saunders was shocked the MPI agent couldn’t tell the person standing in front of them was not Saunders − or more disturbingly, didn’t even take the time to look.

“And just to be clear, her and I look nothing alike,” said Saunders. “We are of a different race, so we really don’t look anything alike. What’s the point of photo ID if no one is looking at the photo?”

Twenty-four hours later, Saunders was notified by MPI that facial recognition software detected a difference between her face and the thief’s face, flagging the fraud.

MPI told CityNews in a statement that “after meticulous examination, it was confirmed the picture of the applicant did not match the name of the licence holder. A hold was immediately placed on the photo and a photo ID was not issued.”

That’s when Saunders took action to protect her bank account. She implemented fraud alerts requiring anyone trying to access her accounts to provide a valid passport and verbal passcode.

But the fraud protection was seemingly not implemented by the bank.

A day after the extra security measures were put in place, the thief walked into a TD branch. Using the ID with Saunders’ picture, she was able to access Saunders’ bank account and stole all her money.

“So once again, what is the purpose of photo ID if we’re not looking at the photo?”

In a statement to CityNews, TD said: “It’s concerning when a customer falls victim to fraud and we recognize that in addition to the financial impacts, these situations are stressful.

“TD carried out a fraud investigation and we’ve since reached out to Ms. Saunders to apologize for her experience and to confirm that the issue has been resolved.”

After stealing money from Saunders’ TD account, the fraudster kept going.

“She did go to all the major banks and open bank accounts at all of those banks,” said Saunders.

Saunders says RBC issued the fraudster money, and Saunders had to go to the branch in person to prove it wasn’t her.

She has notified the police and expects the banks will repay her.

“I’m pretty disappointed in both MPI and the bank at this point.”

Saunders says the women carrying her ID hasn’t been arrested and is still at large.

“I don’t know what’s coming next, and I’m just constantly waiting by the phone thinking: what’s going to happen today?”

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